


There Was A Man Who Lived A Life of Fire

by Maia_saura



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: 5 Times, M/M, plums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 23:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7074538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maia_saura/pseuds/Maia_saura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Steve ate a plum was at the height of a heat wave in ‘39.  One of Bucky’s cousins had given a basket full of plums to the Barnes’ and Bucky brought half a dozen of them to Steve.</p><p>They looked like nothing else that Steve had ever seen.  They were smooth and soft, and they smelled like summer.  For a long time, Steve just stared at them and felt his mouth water.   </p><p>Bucky looked between Steve and the plums, and when Steve made no motion to start eating them, Bucky picked one up and bit into it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Was A Man Who Lived A Life of Fire

**Author's Note:**

> There was a man who lived a life of fire  
> by Stephen Crane
> 
> There was a man who lived a life of fire.  
> Even upon the fabric of time,  
> Where purple becomes orange  
> And orange purple,  
> This life glowed,  
> A dire red stain, indelible;  
> Yet when he was dead,  
> He saw that he had not lived.

The first time Steve really remembers seeing Bucky at church was when Bucky spilled the blood of Christ all over Jeremy Robertson. Jeremy had intentionally tripped Steve with his leg when Steve was going up the aisle with Steve’s Mom. Steve had fallen on his face. After he pulled himself up, Steve spat out two already loosened front teeth into his hand. Jeremy muttered an apology under his breath, but he was smiling. 

Five minutes later, Steve watched Bucky bump into Jeremy’s shoulder as he was about to receive the eucharist. It wasn’t a hard bump, just enough force to cause Jeremy’s face to collide with the cup that Father O’Brien was holding out and all the cup’s contents poured out onto Jeremy’s church clothes.

As the giant grape colored stain spread out slowly on Jeremy’s shirt, Bucky turned around to Steve and met his eyes. The left corner of Bucky’s mouth was turned upward. 

~~~

The first time (the only time) Steve deeply regretted starting a fight, it was because Bucky had received the brunt of the beating. Bucky had gotten between Steve and Ryan Murphy after Steve had gotten between Ryan and Mary Walsh. Mary had said no, and Ryan hadn’t taken kindly to the answer.

The fight ended when Mary came back with her brothers, and it was Mary’s brothers that finally pulled Ryan off Bucky. Ryan had already gotten in plenty of good kicks. 

Bucky could barely get out of the bed until the third day, bruises blossoming all over his body like lilacs in April. 

“I’m—” Steve had tried to say sorry four separate times, but found that he just couldn’t. Because Steve knew what Bucky wanted, and Steve couldn’t—Steve couldn’t make promises to Bucky that Steve knew he couldn’t keep. 

“You’re a punk,” Bucky said through his swollen face after each of Steve’s aborted attempts to apologize. And once, when Steve couldn’t get any of the words out at all, Bucky deliberately flicked one of Steve’s own bruises with his right index finger. 

But Bucky never mentioned the beating again afterward. In all of their subsequent arguments about all the trouble that Steve kept on finding, Bucky never once used the beating he took on Steve’s behalf as leverage. 

~~~

The first time Steve ate a plum was at the height of a heat wave in ‘39. One of Bucky’s cousins had given a basket full of plums to the Barnes’ and Bucky brought half a dozen of them to Steve. 

They looked like nothing else that Steve had ever seen. They were smooth and soft, and they smelled like summer. For a long time, Steve just stared at them and felt his mouth water. 

Bucky looked between Steve and the plums, and when Steve made no motion to start eating them, Bucky picked one up and bit into it. 

The dark juice of the fruit leaked liberally over Bucky’s forearm. Bucky laughed and chased after it with his mouth. 

Then Bucky held out the same fruit to Steve, Bucky’s eyes crinkling at the edges. 

Steve bit down on it and let the sweetness flood his mouth. He hadn’t even realized he closed his eyes until he opened them again. Bucky was looking at him. 

“You’re letting the juices run,” Bucky said, as he held out his hand and wiped the nectar from Steve’s jaw firmly with his thumb, then he stuck his thumb into his mouth. Steve felt his own face get hot. 

Bucky smiled slowly, and picked up a unbitten plum. He handed the new plum to Steve. “Is this the best thing ever or what?”

Steve smiled back, “Yeah, Buck, I think it is.”

~~~  
The first time Steve visited his Mom’s grave after Bucky shipped out to basic training (it was the same morning that Bucky had gotten on the train), Steve found fresh branches of lavender laid out in front of Sarah Rogers’ tombstone. 

When his Mom had been sick, Bucky had always brought fresh lavender over to cheer her up.

With a start, Steve realized that Bucky had came by to say goodbye to his Mom. 

~~~  
The first time Steve had gotten mail, real mail, after he woke up from the ice, it was a package with a letter from Bucky’s nephew—–James Barnes. 

The letter was short. It said that Bucky’s mom had gotten not only Bucky’s things, but she had gotten all of Steve’s things too because Steve had listed Bucky as his next of kin. Mrs. Barnes had given almost everything to the Smithsonian except for two things. James Barnes thought Steve should have them. It was what Bucky Barnes would have wanted. 

Steve sat himself down when he opened the package. Inside, two medals laid next to each other side by side.


End file.
